TOURISTS facing accommodation problems on busy Skye may soon find an unusual solution – in the form of industrial-looking containers.

A developer has applied to install 13 containers called EasySnooze because it says prices on the island for many budget travellers are too high.

While there has been a boom in visitors and high quality facilities there is a lack of accommodation for visitors priced out of the lower end of the market, it claims.

The scheme is billed as SkyeSnooze and applicant Donnie Nicolson of Portree-based Jansvans Ltd has formally submitted a planning application to Highland Council for the development at the business site in Broom Place.

In an accompanying statement, SkyeSnooze says: “Recent tourism accommodation developments on Skye have been aimed at the high end of the market in terms of standards and price, and we feel that we are addressing an alternative market demand which is not presently catered for."

Residents on Skye are calling for urgent help to deal with overcrowding after a surge in tourism led to too many visitors at some of the island’s most famous beauty spots.

Islanders complain that their narrow, single-track roads are being choked with camper vans, tour buses and cars.

The problem is most acute at Skye’s most famous spots, particularly at the Fairy Pools – a series of vivid green and blue pools and waterfalls in Glen Brittle – the Neist Point lighthouse with views over to the Uist islands, and the island’s remarkable ridges and stone outcrops at the Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr.